Loveland-based program connects students with STEM projects

By Shelley Widhalm Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
07/05/2013 05:22:34 PM MDT

Preston Middle School sixth-graders check cameras during the summer of 2012 that they set up for a black bear study halfway up Sulzer Gulch at the Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch. The students at the Fort Collins school wanted to improve wildlife habitat as part of their experiences with the Loveland-based International Telementor Program from fall 2011 to spring 2012.
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Through a new learning approach, the Loveland-based International Telementor Program connects students worldwide with professionals who serve as their mentors on STEM-related projects.

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics projects vary from providing clean water in developing countries to local wetland rehabilitation, wildlife improvement and natural disaster management.

"Students are tackling issues that are keeping leading professionals up at night," said David Neils, founder and director of the International Telementor Program, based in Loveland where he lives.

Neils founded the International Telementor Program in 1995 to provide students with opportunities to do authentic work in the STEM subjects and to begin their career and educational planning. The authentic work and learning that students do is embedded into the core standards, he said.

"It happens in the classroom. It's not an extra activity or an after-school program," he said. "All extra activities at schools fall off the cliff when push comes to shove."

The Telementor Program is geared toward students in the sixth grade through college.

Last year, 1,300 students participated in the program, matched with nearly 800 mentors. A total of 46,357 students have participated since the program's founding.

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The students come from 25 schools worldwide, including Preston Middle and Fossil Ridge High schools in Poudre School District.

"Students are doing unprecedented work in our program because of the way they are treated and challenged," Neils said.

The students solve real-life problems by consulting with professionals in a variety of industries through a secure online format. The professionals are from 22 countries and are part of companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Google, Thompson Reuters, MasterCard and Wells Fargo.

A mountain lion visits the wildlife guzzler, a stock water tank, Preston Middle School students set up in October 2011 to provide a water source for bears and other wildlife. The lion showed up within 12 hours of the guzzler being filled.
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"It's amazing what these students are able to do with support," Neils said. "The mentors support and challenge students to do excellent work."

Through the program, the students choose a topic of interest and research and identify the experts knowledgeable about that topic, and then the Telementor Program pairs them with the appropriate professional mentors. The mentors provide the students with information, tools, advice and feedback to help them design and implement their projects.

By the time they complete the work, the students have begun to develop professional networks, Neils said.

Several companies support the Telementor Program by providing funding and mentors and through the Dollars for Doers program, which allows employees to volunteer as mentors and helps pay for their experiences.

"As humans, we are hardwired to contribute. If you're learning while making solid contributions, that provides a lot of fuel," Neils said.

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